Tadema's Women of Amphissa Up Close

I've shown close-up views of some Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) paintings here and elsewhere. But given his talent and stage-setting ability, why not more?

The excellent Clark museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts has a nice example of his work. It is "The Women of Amphissa" (1887); the museum page for the painting is here.

Below are some iPhone photos I took of it when I visited the Clark last September. Click on images to enlarge.

Gallery

An image of the painting found on the Internet.

My establishment shot, showing how it appeared to the camera under the gallery's lighting conditions. Tadema was something of a miniaturist, and you can glean a sense of its scale by comparing its size to the plaque fragment to the right of it.  Some detail photos are below.

Women's Eyes by Kees van Dongen and Russell Patterson

I wrote about Dutch Modernist painter Kees van Dongen (1877-1968) here, and American cartoonist Russell Patterson (1893-1977) here.

Some of their works exhibit a certain similarity. Namely, from time to time they depicted young women as having extremely mascaraed eyes. Patterson did this a lot more than did van Dongen because his job required cranking out a much larger volume of images.

Van Dongen got there first -- his mascaraed lovelies began to appear around 1910, whereas Patterson's were a Jazz Age and Depression-era thing. So: Did Patterson borrow from van Dongen? I do not know: probably no one does. But living and working in New York City starting in the mid-1920s, it's possible that he might have seen some van Dongen paintings or perhaps images of them in publications.

Let's take a look:

Gallery

Van Dongen: La femme en blanc - 1912

Van Dongen: The Blue Hat - 1910

Van Dongen: La Coquelicot - c. 1919

Patterson sketch

Patterson illustration

Patterson illustration

Joseph Edward Southall's Tempera Paintings

Joseph Edward Southall (1861-1944) used tempera as his main medium, unlike most Fine Art painters who favored oil. Some background dealing with his art and politics is here.

Southall's compositions are generally fairly static and his subject matter traditional. Images are "flat" in both the Modernist and Mediaeval artistic senses. I am tempted to use the term "decorative."

That said, his works are pleasing, if not awe-inspiring.

Gallery

Sigismonda Drinking the Poison - 1897

The Sleeping Beauty - 1903

Anna Elizabeth Southall - 1911
That's a self-portrait of Southall himself at the left.

Along the Shore - 1914

Belgium Supported by Hope - 1918
Related to the Great War that ended late that year.

Ariadne on Naxos - 1925

Fishermen and Visitors - 1931
Those visitors are quite fashionably dressed: an interesting painting.

The Great Bridge at Cahors, France - 1940
The Internet-sourced date confuses me. I doubt Southall would have been in south-central France any time that year due to the war and the country's fall to the Germans in May-June (though Cahors was in Vichy France). Note the trees in leaf, a May-October thing. Therefore, if the date is correct, the painting was made in his studio or else the painting was made, say, in 1938 or 1939 when France could be visited casually.

Ubaldo Oppi, Painter and Alpini Lieutenant Colonel

According to his Wikipedia entry, Ubaldo Oppi (1889-1942) studied under Gustav Klimt.  Besides that, it seems that while in Paris he had a brief affair with Picasso's ex-girlfriend Fernande Olivier.

Despite those brushes with Modernism, following Great War service in Italy's elite Alpini forces, Oppi briefly associated with the Novocento (Twentieth Century) movement, a more traditional-yet-Modernist-inspired group.

By the 1930s he focused on religious works.  In World War 2 he rejoined the Alpini with the rank of lieutenant colonel, but his health failed perhaps from cancer and he died about age 53.

Gallery

Figure in Red - c.1912
An example of Oppi's prewar work.  The face strikes me as being a dialed-down version of what Kees van Dongen was doing at the time.

Donna alla finestra - 1921
This "Lady at the Window" looks like his wife.

Ritratto della moglie sullo sfondo di Venezia - 1921
His wife posed against a Venetian background.

La giovane sposa - 1922
The young bride / wife.  Note the tile flooring and one-point perspective in the background that harkens back to classical Italian paintings.

Shepherd Girl - 1926

The Three Surgeons - 1926

Ritratto della signora Alma Giavi Leone - 1926
Like most artists, Oppi painted some portraits to earn income.

Ritratto della moglie - 1928
Another portrait of his wife.  He also painted nearly identical half-view of her the same year.

Antonio Donghi's Consistent Style

Antonio Donghi (1897-1963) is best known for paintings made during the 1920s and 1930s. During that period his style changed little.  Essentially, his non-landscape subjects were depicted in stiff poses using some simplification in form and modeling.  In other words, he made use of some features of Modernism while not diving too deeply into it.

As for the scenes he painted, they often were quirky.  In some cases there was a hint of humor, but humor from an odd, sometimes hard to understand viewpoint.

His English Wikipedia entry is here.  From there you might link to a longer Italian entry.

Gallery

Carnevale - 1923

Juggler - 1926
The harlequin in the previous image reappears here.

Circo equestre - 1927

Paesaggio (porto) - 1930
Example of a landscape painting where Donghi uses a different style.

Abito azzurro - 1933
The title refers to her blue outfit, yet it's hard to avoid noticing the gloved hand.

Equestrian Portrait of Mussolini - 1937
Just by looking at this painting it's hard to say whether Donghi made a typical work honoring Mussolini or whether this was a subtle satire of such works.  I suspect the latter.

Autoritratto - 1943
Self-portrait.

Ragazzi alla finestra - 1947
"Children at the Window" -- a postwar work.

Cocottina - 1927
This and the next two paintings as seen via my iPhone in Venice's Ca' Pesaro museum.

Donna al caffè - 1931

Gli amanti alla stazione (La partenza) - 1933
"The Parting" is the short title for this couple at a train station.

Vittorio Zecchin- Inspired by Klimt

Vittorio Zecchin (1878-1947) was born and died on Venice's famous art glass island of Murano. He was the son of a glassblower and worked in that field for part of his career. He also worked with fabrics and for a while he painted -- the subject of this post.

Some information regarding him can be found here (scroll down a little). There is much more here, but little is said regarding his career as a painter.

It seems that a 1910 exhibit of Gustav Klimt paintings inspired him, though he surely was aware of Art Nouveau artists such as Aubrey Beardsley, echoes of whose work might be detected.

Zecchin's most noteworthy paintings were a set of murals for a Lido hotel that was destroyed -- though much or all of the art remains. The theme of the murals was the Thousand and One Nights, a work very popular around 1914 when the murals were completed.

Below are some examples of Zecchin's paintings, including a few iPhone snapshots I took at Venice's Ca' Pesaro museum.

Gallery

The title, according to its Internet source is Perle, but I know nothing else regarding this.

The Internet has this as an image of Salome, though again I am not sure about that. Note the Paisley elements.

Another presumed Salome.

Part of the Thousand and One Nights mural.

Le principesse e i guerrieri (the Princesses and the Warriors), another segment of the mural, this image from the Internet.

The previous painting as seen at the Ca' Pesaro. Its size can be gleaned by that of the card at the lower left.

Detail. Its caption mentions that it is of oil and golden stucco on canvas. Click on the image to enlarge.

In the Beginning: Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) was a highly talented painter whose reputation, like others of his ilk, suffered with the advent of Modernism and its rise to Establishment status. Fortunately, the pendulum has reversed to the point where his works are increasingly respected.

I've written about him here, here and elsewhere on this blog. His Wikipedia entry is here.

The present post deals with examples of his early work, paintings made before he settled into his mature style and subject matter.

Gallery

Mary Magdalene (Head study) - 1854
Tadema was about 18 years old when he painted this oil-on-paper study. Enlarge to view his brushwork a little better.

Portrait of a man with a ring beard (also known as A man looking up) - 1856
He was about 20 here. A Dutchman, his formal art training was in Antwerp, in the Flemish part of Belgium.

The Blind Beggar - 1856
From about the same time as the previous image. Unlike the study of the man's head, this work is a tightly painted genre image pretty much in line with art fashions of the time.

Faust and Marguerite - 1857
This has a very Flemish feeling to it, not at all what we would expect of Tadema.

Clotilde at the Tomb of Her Grandchildren - 1858
Here too Tadema is both acquiring experience and staying within the artistic norms of those times.

A Bargain (also known as Brabant Women) - 1860
Note the brickwork in the background -- reminds me in a tiny way of Vermeer's portrayal of Delft.

Gunthram Bose and his daughters, AD 572 (also known as The Ambuscade) - 1862
Now for a quick, though transitory, stylistic departure. Again, not the Tadema we know.

Entrance to a Roman Theatre - 1866
Now he is about 30 and following his interest in depicting antiquity as accurately as possible. However, this painting is still somewhat dark and Flemish compared to his mature works.

An Exedra - 1869
Tadema was known for, among other things, his skill at painting marble. This is an early example when he was still learning how to do it convincingly. However, this is not an oil painting, so the medium might be a factor here.

Silver Favorites - 1903
I include this later painting to show his mature style. The image is bright and the marble really looks like marble.